Stagnant Water of Apocalypse

This is catch up chapter… Though, i don't remember anymore what day i missed the upload.

While I was expanding the shelter in the forest, Seokhyun and Dingo, who had become closer to each other, set out to find a werewolf. They, who normally would fight whenever they had free time, had become quite friendly.

Thanks to that, I was able to focus on the shelter. While expanding, I also cleaned the cave, which has been postponed for a few weeks now. The expansion ended only after several days of hard work and a lot of mini forklift noises.

“Next time, I should make up my mind and do a huge expansion at once…”

In fact, there's a lot of materials stocked in my shelter. Most of the 200 pyeong was being used for storage. It was all due to the fact that while other survivors had to throw away the supplies they had stored up in order to move their hideouts, I am not.

“This is all thanks to the scarabs who worked hard to defend the shelter…”

While I wasn't in the shelter, they devised their own defensive measure; Small ballistas and explosives. Thanks to those, a lot of monsters couldn't even approach. And when an orcs appear, they often run away after having the taste of the ballista.

However, just because the defensive measure was strong, I still couldn't relax. It was because some monsters had made nests around the shelter. Since the scarabs can't just chase them away with their small bodies, I had to take care of them by myself, but I didn't have time at all.

“I need to clean up a bit.” I cleaned the cave and dusted it off. Next time, I'll be sure to clean up those monsters by taking a tour around the forest. Once I finished cleaning, I washed my body with hot water. It's really nice to take a bath once after a long while.

But, unlike me who enjoyed myself, the Zombie- no, she's the Ghoul Queen now, Choi Da-jeong, who was calling for me at the Auction House, seems to be in a grave situation.

-Da-jeong is starving to death!

-Da-jeong is starving to death!

-Da-jeong is starving to death!

She put up a folded paper in the Auction House and left those words in the comments section.

It's not even a coded word, so why did she write that?

I called her in another auction item of hers.

-Didn't I tell you to write in coded words?

-I don't have the strength to do that because I am starving.

You don't have power to even type?

Then, Da-jeong proceeded to say, no… Rant about how she only eats rice and plain food after entering the government shelter.

-Why should I eat only rice and potatoes for a week?

-It's probably because they are conserving food. You have to be patient.

-Hurry up and give me something delicious. Or else, I'll tell people that Kang Seongho is I Love Gimbap.

If you tell them in this age where there's no internet, would they be able to find me, though?

Anyway, I needed something to keep Da-jeong's mouth shut.

-What do you want to eat?

-Seasoned Fried Chicken!

-Didn't I tell you it needs a lot of oil to fry a chicken? It's not that it's impossible, it just takes a lot of money.

-Shut up and just give me already. You already promised!!

-I did… but please wait a little longer.

-Just what are you doing so far?

-Well, now that the work is done, we will soon go to Seoul after making a quick stop at Gyeongsangbuk-do.

-Oh! Does that mean the endangered species is dead? What did you get from it?

-Not telling.

-Hey!

Anyway, Da-jeong gave me two hours to make the seasoned fried chicken. She paid me by giving me information from the shelter.

Hmm, hmmm… so it's like that.

Isn't Joo Seungcheol suspicious?

Seems like I need to check on him too.

-The reason you sent me to Seoul was because of guns, isn't it? What if there's guns too in Joo Seungcheol's shelter?

-Then you should check on both.

-I'd rather fight to death in the wilderness…

-But that's not the reason why I sent you! Anyway, is there any more progress?

-I told Geom-in to help me. That I wanted to be a queen in this apocalyptic world.

-Geom-in? When did you become friends with him?

-I'm pretending to be close to him to dig some information from him. Moreover, I don't think there's any need to fight with him.

So it was only a front…

Anyway, Da-jeong told me that when she said she wanted to be a queen, Geom-in was surprised. He must've come up with a plan to be a king himself but it was ripped apart the moment the Ghoul Queen declared so.

-The Ghoul Queen will be the ruler of the government shelters… that's a good idea

-Right? So, come quickly and support me too.

-I'll think about it.

I need to cook the chicken quickly and do something else.

When I went to the hwajo pen, I was quite surprised by their numbers.

“When did you become so many?”

Although I had already eaten a few of them, their numbers had increased rather than decreased. I think there were more than 10 now. Inside the pen, the scarabs were carrying eggs. They seem able to tell the difference between a fertilized egg and an unfertilized egg by tapping it with their forelegs.

Those guys work hard too. Once I find the emperor honey for them, they will grow bigger and stronger, so I should definitely go next time.

I caught one hwajo, butchered it and raised the oil temperature.

“Seasoned fried chicken recipe…”

I don't have all the ingredients to make it, so it would only taste okay. But I'm sure despite it, Da-jeong won't complain since being able to eat seasoned fried chicken in this chaotic world was an unimaginable luxury.

After frying the hwajo coated in batter twice and tossing it into the seasoning I prepared, a golden brown visual came out. The problem was, the size of each part of the hwajo was too big. Afterall, when a normal chicken weighs about 1kg, this Hwajo weighs over 3kg.

"…I'll take some for me, Seokhyun and Dingo."

I placed the hwajo on top of disposable bowls and registered Da-jeong's portion in the Auction House. Since both it's labor cost and ingredient cost are quite expensive, let's set it at 200 points.

The seasoned chicken instantly disappeared and the point came in.

-Something this big wouldn't fit!!! Angh~

What nonsense are you spouting?

When I returned to Earth, Seokhyun and Dingo had also returned from whatever they were doing throughout the day. Both of them were the same, only wearing their birthday suits. or no. I don't even know if those clothes can be considered clothes or not. Though, for Dingo, he had always been naked because he's a wolf.

“Did you guys win?”

"Yes."

I think Seokhyun hunted a werewolf with his bare body. Thanks to that, his body was full of wounds, so I gave him an egg and put the fried hwajo on the table.

Seokhyun sat down on a chair and rubbed the bump on his eyelids which was as big as a chestnut with the egg. Dingo who sat next to him also had dark spots around his eyes.

“You guys are really brothers now.”

Seokhyun grinned and suddenly bit Dingo's toe.

Looking at the scene, I couldn't help but wonder just how far he's going to keep acting like a wolf like that.

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Me, Seokhyun, and Dingo left Changwon. Our first destination will be Miryang.

As we walked through the tunnel along the national road, deserted rice fields filled my vision. 

Seokhyun looked away and tilted his head. “I haven’t seen that in a long time.”

"Yeah…"

What we found was a tree, or to be precise, a plant. However, unlike plants from earth, its stem, which looked like a vine, twisted and entangled with other stems like pretzels and grew towards the sky.

When I got closer, it turned out to be quite high; towering at around 20m. Moreover, the surrounding area had also changed into an area which didn't look like Earth.

This kind of phenomenon could be said to be some kind of erosion. It's happening because as monsters crossed over from another world, the seeds of plants somehow also crossed over and grew.

“We should be careful… if we do it wrong, those man-eating bastards will fall over.”

“They are delicious if you chop them and blanched them.”

There were several species of man-eating plants, and some of them were edible. Of course, there were also poisonous ones, so if you eat them incorrectly, you will instantly die.

Though, if it's Seokhyun, he'll be fine whatever he eats.

As I walked back to the national road, I saw a shop which sold outdoor clothing. Since winter is just around the corner, it would be a good idea to have some spare coats stored up.

I wandered through the dusty outdoor store to get the clothes I needed. However, Seokhyun just stood there as if he didn't need clothes.

“All I need is pants.”

“Are you going to wear only pants in the winter too?”

“It will be fine because I have a lot of heat in my body.”

“Please just do it for me, please.”

Seokhyun was barely convinced and grabbed a few clothes that fit his size. I don't need the women's one right now… but just in case, let's keep it too. WIth bundle of clothes in my hand, I crossed the portal, built a quick storage with the sandwich panels, and stocked put all the clothes there.

Seokhyun, who was watching, yawned and said,

“With that amount of stuff, you can even do some business.”

“Well, it seems so. Soon, clothes like this will become precious.”

It was now 3 months after the apocalypse hit earth. Except for food, the city was overflowing with various supplies. If someone dares to take some risk and ventured out, they will be able to dress warmly.

But over time, the story will change. Things we took for granted will disappear. And in a few years, it may become common for people to scour throughout the whole city looking for a pair of clothes. Before that happens, you need to stock up all the necessary things. Especially equipment.

I'm not fully convinced as of now, but the facilities I need the most are hidden in the government shelter. It wouldn't be easy taking what's inside of it, therefore it was necessary to prepare in advance so we could secure it when the opportunity came.

Shelter strife… isn't it common content in stories about the apocalypse?

It is also common for a third party to suddenly barge in and intervene in-between the two sides.

I was aiming for that by sending Da-jeong to the government shelter. And she was doing better than I expected. I was worried that she would cause an accident as soon as she arrived there, but turns out, she's still doing things peacefully.

When I was thinking about that, a loud bang suddenly echoed through the room. It was from Seokhyun who suddenly went near the freezer and beat up the ghoul which was there.

“Hey, Seokhyun-ah!”

“Come here quickly and get your points!”

Perhaps, thanks to two werewolf skills he got, he had become much stronger than before. He's mercilessly beating it up without caring about defense at all while holding it so I can do the last hit to it.

He's really a good guy.

I took out my equipment and killed it with it.

And my points went up.

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Ten hours later, we finally arrived in Miryang. As I walked along the Seonghan Bridge, I found a place which was administratively called Sammun-dong.

It had an island in the middle of the city. And there, a tall apartment was still standing. It's strange that it didn't collapse because of the corrosive disease, but there was something even more interesting than that.

“I think that apartment has turned into a dungeon.”

Seokhyun frowned and looked back at me when he heard my words.

“Can you really see it?”

“I have the Griffon’s Eye skill.”

“You get all the good things yourself…”

“That’s how I live. Anyway, that's a dungeon. Which means, there will be monsters inside.”

Dungeons in Survival Life were usually located underground. However, sometimes, there's a case when a dungeon appears above ground. But, whenever they appeared, it was always accompanied by otherworldly landscape which overturned the original terrain of the area. Both inside and the outside.

However, as it was a familiar space for monsters, They rushed into the dungeon driven by their instinct and the strongest of them would be the apex predator of the dungeon. Which means, at this moment, the apex predator will be an orc.

That apex monsters will make all the monsters inside the dungeon their subordinates. And they would be stronger than when they were outside the dungeon. On top of it, the dungeon itself also influenced the monsters, so the monsters would have some kind of sense of belonging to the dungeon. It wasn't far-fetched to say that they would be like a clan.

I used the Griffon's Eye skill to sweep through the Dungeon. By the size alone it was clear that a pretty strong guy would be the boss. Which means, the skill it will give to us once we kill it will be good.

He also must have piled up a lot of stuff…

Before I could even propose, Seokhyun clenched his fist.

“Let’s enter. I will take you on a bus” (T/N for those who didn't know, ‘Bus' is a term for ‘power leveling'. It's an act where higher-leveled people subdued monsters who are weaker than them, but stronger than that.) 

“It would be nice if we went together. The road is… we can go through there.”

All the bridges to Sammun-dong were broken, but the beams installed in the low water were still intact. We put on our gear and tried to cross the beam. However, an arrow flew from the direction of a checkpoint installed in Sammun-dong.

"What is this? Do they want to fight?”

It seemed like a warning not to come, but… When I opened the note attached to the arrow, it was a warning not to set foot on their island.

As soon as Seokhyun read it, he snorted.

“Your land? From now on it'll be our land.”

“Hey, Seokhyun, wait a minute. Let’s try to talk first.”

It seemed that there was a force that controlled the entire Sammun-dong. And there's no need for useless violence here. We want to kill monsters and get supplies, not fight with people. Though, If they are acting up, we will teached them.

As I was waiting, three people appeared on the other side of the broken bridge. We can just have the conversation by shouting to each other, however, by doing so we would attract all the monsters in the area. They seem to realize that too as they attach a note on an arrow and shoot it towards us.

Seokhyun, who opened it, crumpled the note and tried to lower his pants. I could barely prevent him from doing that.

“Wait, we don’t have to fight. There is a way.”

"Like what?"

“The bridge is broken, but I have a boat. Let's use it to cross.”

“I want to beat them.”

"Ah my head… There will be at least twenty people in their group, are you going to beat them all?”

Nod Nod.

Ugh… I asked the wrong question to the wrong person. Seokhyun and I have different ways of overcoming obstacles. He always preferred to hit head-on while I liked to take more roundabout ways.

I reminded him that there is no need to fight here. “If you look at the state of their fighting personnel, their level should be low. There is a high probability that they can't even dream of entering the dungeon. Therefore…"

“We should sneak into the dungeon?”

"Yeah. Unless they are brave, or borderline crazy, they won't be able to even approach it."

“Because the monsters inside are quite ferocious…”

“Let’s go on a rubber boat. I wonder what they'll do if we do so.” I don't know how many people there are in their group, but the chance the whole Sammun-dong was monitored by them was low.

We slowly retreated. I could see the three across the river throwing their clenched fists into the air, celebrating their success.

But that man is somehow familiar…

However, I couldn't think about it further as I was busy walking and urging Dingo and Seokhyun at the same time.

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Kyunghoon ran to the hideout with his colleagues. The joy of having done what they just did reigned supreme on their body.. On the other hand, however, he couldn't shake the impression that he had seen the intruder somewhere.

‘It's not uncommon to be that big…'

But, upon arriving at the hideout, he recalled his memories and realized that the man was the man of the snack shop.

Can't remember his last name but didn't he say his name was Seongho?

The person who should have been in Busan came to Miryang. Kyunghoon didn't know who the man next to him was, but seeing that he wasn't even properly armed, he thought that he wasn't a great guy.

Kyunghoon reported what had happened to the leader of the Sammun-dong clan. Then, Ma Yeong-seok, the de facto ruler of Sammun-dong, stroked his unkempt beard.

“Are the two really not a big deal?”

“One of them has a lot of knowledge. Bora and I got some help from him back in Busan.”

“Isn't that something from the pamphlet?”

“No. He knew a lot more than that. For example, he knows how many darts a goblin can shoot?”

"Huh, really?" Yeong-seok's eyes opened wide. But moments later he started to think that the man would definitely be a great help if he had a lot of knowledge on top of being such a sharp-looking man.

Maybe he knows what that hideous creeper apartment is.

Then, Kyunghoon continued, “He said he didn't play the game and only watched the video. But, he fought pretty well for someone who only watched the video. He's even stronger than me.”

“Still, he's not as strong as me, isn't he?”

“Ei… Of course not… He's not your match, hyung-nim.”

Ma Yeong-seok listened to him and shrugged his shoulders. His forearms, which were thick enough to be mistaken for an orc's forearms, wriggled.

“Then I should try to contact him and bring him in. "

“Can I borrow your name? If it was through the Auction House, he probably would come right away.”

“Yes you can, hyung-nim”

Since Miryang was a small city, the level of talented people was relatively low. There were only three people who had grown up to level 15, including Yeong-seok. The three strengthened their influence by checking and cooperating with each other.

However, even though they had worked together, they still couldn't clear the weird vines which covered the tallest apartment building in Miryang. According to the person who managed to escape, the inside of the apartment had become horrifying and was full with strong monsters.

‘If the Zombie Queen is here, it might be possible to attack again, but…’

Her whereabouts were currently unknown. Even if she had stayed in Miryang, he doubted that she would listen to his words even when he's the ruler.

Kyunghoon left the room and Yeong-seok looked for information at the Auction House. Rapwi is by far the hottest issue in the current Auction House. It was confirmed that he had done something in Changwon, but what exactly happened was not revealed.

‘Where the hell did you go…’ Rapwi's attire was one of a kind, therefore it would be easy to recognize him wherever he went.

Yeong-seok was reading the report from the apartment when someone hurriedly knocked on his door.

"Why?"

“Hy-hyung-nim, there's two people who are crossing the river right now.”

"What? Who?”

"I do not know. Both of them are men, and they are crossing the Moon Bridge on a rubber boat.”

“Those troublemakers!"

Yeong-seok was certain that the two men were the same men Kyunghoon was talking about. Yeong-seok got up, then relaxed and warmed his shoulders up. Since they had trespassed to his land and ignored his warning, he should personally teach them a lesson. It was also necessary to take the rubber boat the man was using.

“Call Heewon and Cheol-jung.”

The complexion of the man who was tasked to do so changed. Including the leader Yeong-seok, the three were the most powerful of the Sammun-dong clan. Which means, no matter who the two are, they'll never be able to fight them.

Yeong-seok hurriedly opened the door and went out into the hallway. Out the window he could see the rubber boat the two men were riding on.

“Oh my god… He even took a dog with him?”